Jags4186 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 16, 2018 8:04 am
Re: Property tax
I don’t know either, but go ahead and pay your property tax. You’ve lowered your monthly outlay from $1800 to $350ish or so using your numbers.
Re: Moving to a less expensive rental
Doesn’t matter either way. If you move to a new area most landlords still require you to provide income. How can you prove income if you have no job, or even if you have a new job in a new area that hasn’t started paying you yet?
Re: not caring post purchase
You say you don’t care but if we plucked you out of the situation then you made a bad buy. You say you make your money on the buy. You’ve quickly lost the money you made on the buy and are now losing buy owning. I don’t see how you’re okay buying under your rules but not reevaluating when they no longer continue to be true.
Re: Asian currency crisis
This is your weakest argument IMO. Picking up and moving to another country is simply not an option for the overwhelming majority of Americans. It’s not like you can just hop on a plane, show up in Sweden, and get an engineering job. America is at the top of wages in the world anyway, so you gain nothing by leaving. Perhaps you move to another city, but at what point do you make that decision? How long do you wait it out where you are? It costs enormous financial and emotional capital to pick up and move, especially for a non gurranteed situation.
The biggest issue with your rules is that on one side of your mouth you say they are required in your situation based on what’s actually happened to you. On the other side you tell people to follow them. Most people are not going to fall into continuous series of black swan events you have.
Jags4186,
1) Housing Expense
When I bought the house, my housing expense is $1,800 and it was 20% to 30% lowered than the rental. That was my safety margin. I fixed my housing expense at $1,800 per month over 30 years. So, are you claiming that it is not a good bet over the long run?
Please note that the conventional wisdom is more aggressive. It assumes that the house's value appreciates. I don't. I only assume that the rental price does not drop 20% to 30% and stay at that lowered value over the whole 30 years.
I save 20% to 30% of my housing expense every year. I make money every year. So, even if I have to sell the house later, I had made my money from all the years that I lived in the house.
<<Picking up and moving to another country is simply not an option for the overwhelming majority of Americans. >>
2) This is a personal finance forum. It is personal. Who cares whether it is relevant to others? The only relevant question is whether it applies to you. In my area, the jobs are globalized. It helps and hurts. We are being outsourced all over the world. On the other hand, we could take on the job globally too. In some cases, location matters. In other cases, location does not matter.
For example,
A) I was telecommuting from Asia for my US job.
B) I am working from home now for my current job while designing network globally.
<<America is at the top of wages in the world anyway,>>
But, I do not have to be physically in the USA for my US job. In fact, even for my current job, as long as I deliver my work, the employer does not care where I am.
<< On the other side you tell people to follow them.>>
I am offering my set of rules as a counterpoint to the common wisdom. Whether folks should follow them, they have to make their own decision. But, it is given that most folks will not follow this set of rules.
<< Most people are not going to fall into continuous series of black swan events you have.>>
1) Many people did not survive any single one of those events.
2) They are not black swan events. It (recessions and economic crisis) occurred regularly.
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